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But the acknowledgment of a Supreme Being, possessed of infinite wisdom and unlimited goodness, not only strengthens every motive to good morals, by which an Atheist may sometimes be influenced, but enforces the practice of them by new motives, which the Atheist annihilates; for if there be no God, the bounteous Giver of all the powers and dignities which distinguish the nature of man, and of all those blessings which support and cheer his existence, then there is no being to whom he can be grateful for the enjoyment of them? And if there be no grateful sentiments in his heart, how then can he act agreeably to the original design of the Creator in his formation ; and, in pursuance of the same design, in his preservation? If there be no God, no almighty, omniscient, and inflexibly just Governor and Judge of mankind, by whose sentence the fate of their whole being must be irreversibly fixed, where is there place for the overawing power of a reverential fear? If there be no God, and righteous rewarder of all, who acts an honourable and worthy part, where are the motives to a right and good conduct, necessary to influence the human heart? Good men are drawn out by gratitude—bad ones overawed by fear; and all more or less animated by hope. But Atheism annihilates all these motives, and takes from virtue all its best and firmest supports ; from men their most efficacious principles of action, and from human nature its reasonable sentiments.
I have only to add on this head, that the generality of mankind, are always more influenced by the awe of a supreme authority, than by any other
